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Save That Wine Bottle: California Will Pay You To Recycle It
Empty glass bottles including those from wine and beer fill a recycling bin.
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OLIVIER DOULIERY
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AFP
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If you’re having people over to celebrate the New Year, it’ll pay to save those empty alcohol bottles and cans.
California is updating its Beverage Container Recycling Program to accept wine, liquor, and all juice sizes for the first time starting Jan. 1.
What does that mean exactly?
When you buy drinks with 7% alcohol or more by volume, you’ll be charged the California Redemption Value (CRV) at checkout.
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You can then trade in those empty containers and get that CRV charge reimbursed.
The CRV will also apply to all fruit and vegetable juice containers. Previously, only specific sizes were part of the program.
How much can I get?
For beverages less than 24 ounces, you can trade in the empty containers for 5 cents.
For example, the Cutwater Tiki Rum Mai Tai, Betty Booze Sparking Tequila, and the Fisher’s Island Blueberry Wave cans would all fall into this category.
Beer and malt beverage containers such as White Claw, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and Coors were already being accepted.
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Part of a CalReycle sign highlighting the changes to the CRV law.
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CalRecycle
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For beverages 24 ounces and more, you can trade in the empty containers for 10 cents.
For example, Smirnoff, Jose Cuervo, and your typical wine bottles would fall under this category.
And for those Franzia fans out there, you can trade in pouches, boxes, and cartons of wine or liquor for 25 cents.
But, the boxes need to be intact to qualify for the cash — spout, bladder, cardboard and all.
Where do I take them?
You can trade in the containers at any one of the 1,249 recycling centers across the state.
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There are nearly 500 locations spread out over Los Angeles County. You can find the closest one to you here.
The recycling centers are required to accept all CRV containers, but the new additions may not have the proper labels until July 2025, according to CalRecycle.
Keep in mind, they won’t be able to take any milk, infant formula, medical, and food or non-beverage containers.
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